Courthouse clock
to return next week
BY BRITTANY STACK
The Daily Mississippian

After weeks of missed deadlines,
work on the Lafayette County
Courthouse clock tower could potentially be finished next week.
“We have authorized our attorney to file suit to retrieve our clock,
and it is to my understanding Lloyd
Larish, the guy with The House of
Clocks who actually took our clock,
will be down here one day next
week to re-install the clock,” Lloyd
Oliphant, president of the board of
supervisors, said.
Oliphant said the clock had not
been working properly for some
time.
Mike Pickens, District 1 representative to the Board of Supervisors, said that the board wants the
clock back after dealing with Larish’s problems for some time.
“The guy we contracted with has
not repaired it,” Pickens said. “He
kept telling us that he would have it
in two weeks, but we have not seen
anything.”
Oliphant said the board notified
Larish that there would be legal action taken against him if he did not
return the clock or complete the

terms of the contract.
The contract stated Larish would
repair the clock to working order
and put it back in place at the top
of the courthouse tower for the
county.
“Evidently, he had a change of
heart after he was notified of our
intent to file suit, and he has since
notified the county that he will be
back before the end of the month to
install the clock in proper working
order,” Oliphant said.
Both Pickens and Oliphant said
that there had been some contemplation about other ways to get the
clock running, including talk of
buying a new clock to place in the
tower.
However, Oliphant said that they
have decided to get the clock back
from Larish. The only reason a new
clock would be bought is if the clock
is not back and installed by the end
of the month.
The Board of Supervisors will
wait to see if Larish carries through
with the return of the clock next
week.
“He has missed several deadlines
through this process,” Oliphant
said. “We hope he makes this one.”

MASCOT UPDATE
BY AMANDA WARD
News Editor

The Ole Miss Mascot Selection Committee
released five top options that came from the recent polling.
Of the 11 original mascot ideas, the committee decided to move forward the concepts of the
horse, Hotty and Toddy, the landshark, the lion
and the bear.
Ty New, committee co-chair, said the committee debated all 11 options again before approving the five released today.
“We had 4,000 voters write comments,” said
New. “A lot were concerned about Hotty and
Toddy Muppets.”
According to the committee website, mascot.
olemiss.edu, this phase of the selection process
includes color renderings of the final mascot
ideas. The next poll will include the visuals to
help voters in deciding.
Some students aren’t as positive about the options pushed forward by the committee.
“The only one that sounds good to me is Hotty and Toddy,” said Latrice Fox, social work major. “They are the only ones that sound like they
would go with Ole Miss.”
Others, however, are not pleased with the results at all.
“It was disappointing that William Faulkner
wasn’t on there. He seemed appropriate,” said
international studies major William Bumpas.
In a recent interview, co-chair Margaret Ann
Morgan said the next poll will take place in the
fall.
According to their website, the committee
has to look into issues such as the housing and
maintaining of a live animal and before the decision can be made.

this week
UM MUSEUM

ABSTRACT WORKS OF
MARIE HULL AND
ANDREW BUCCI
A vivid selection of Marie Hull’s
colorful, energetic abstract works
on paper and Andrew Bucci’s
reﬁned, calligraphic, and organic
compositions in oil and watercolor
comprise an exhibition on loan
from the Mississippi Museum of
Art.
Teacher and Student: Abstract
Works of Marie Hull and Andrew
Bucci remains on view at the
University of Mississippi Museum
until September 18.
The University of Mississippi
Museum is open Tuesday through
Saturday from 10:00 a.m. through
6:00 p.m. and closed Sunday
and Monday, and all University
holidays.

inside
OPINION

IT’S A TRIPLE RAINBOW

ADDISON DENT | The Daily Mississippian

A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S

GULF OIL SPILL-PET DUMPING
VIOLET, La. (AP) — Doublebunked behind the bars at the overrun St. Bernard Animal Shelter are
more victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil
spill: shiny-coated Labrador retrievers,
long-haired Chihuahuas and a fluffy
Shih Tzu.
Among the more typical skinny, stray
mutts are healthy, seemingly welltended dogs whose owners, because of
the massive spill, suddenly don’t have
the time or money to keep them.
“It’s the economy, the uncertainty of
the future, for sure,” said shelter director Beth Brewster, who saw 117 owners surrender their animals last month
— up from 17 in June 2009.
May was particularly bad, Brewster
said: The Violet shelter took in 288
animals that month, compared with
60 in May 2009.
Dean Howard of the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals said several coastal parishes
began reporting a spike in owner relinquishments immediately after the
spill.
In St. Bernard Parish, nearly every
livelihood is somehow connected to
the Gulf. Fishermen normally ply the
waters for seafood. Offshore rig workers drill for oil and longshoremen unload a never-ending flow cargo ships
on the Mississippi River.
But the April 20 explosion of the
Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed
11 workers and continues to spew millions of gallons of oil into the water,
has created multiple problems for pet

owners.
Sasha, a rust-colored Lab mix, was
dropped off with nine 1-day-old puppies by a BP oil worker who suddenly
had more work than he could handle
and no time for the dogs, animal control officer Shannon Asevedo said.
The Shih Tzu was given up by a parish employee who told Brewster he’s
now too busy, too.
Other dogs and cats were abandoned
by fishermen whose incomes were
abruptly cut off and by families forced
to downsize, moving into apartments
that prohibit pets.
“It’s more than we can handle,”
Asevedo said. “We have way more
coming in than going out.”
The trend is nothing new to people
who work with animals. From California to Florida, millions of pets were
abandoned in 2007 and 2008 as the
U.S. economy floundered. The real
estate bubble burst, homes went into
foreclosure and people were forced
to make tough choices as they scaled
back their lifestyles.
“It comes down to feeding your family or feeding your dog. That’s the decision they have to make,” said Colleen Bosley of Catholic Charities of
New Orleans, which is now partnering
with the SPCA to supply pet food at
its weekly food distributions in coastal
parishes.
The SPCA, backed by PetCo Foundation, Del Monte and others, is trySee DUMPING, PAGE 4

Since I talked about cyber-terrorism in
my last column, I thought it prudent to
talk about another crucial and dangerous
issue.
Unlike terrorism and espionage, this
threat has very little sex appeal. It doesn’t
make the news that often, and when it
does, it is on the fourth or fifth page next
to the Garfield comic strip. But just because the media does not feel this threat
is important does not mean that it is not.
I am talking about the threat of water
shortages.
I know what you are thinking. “I saw that
“Waterworld” movie with Kevin Costner.
There’s more water than we know what to
do with.” Although Hollywood will continue to make awful, expensive movies
about the dangers of an overabundance
of water, the fact is that we could face a
real shortage in the amount of drinkable,
fresh water in the coming decades.
Speaking of Hollywood, just look at the
most recent James Bond movies, where
one of the main points was the antagonists taking control of the water supply.

We never think about it because it is easily accessible, but water is power. A shortage or inability to access it is extremely
dangerous.
We are fortunate enough to live in a
country where we have extensive infrastructure for processing and moving water. But the destabilizing effects of water
shortages are going to be felt even in the
most developed of nations.
So what does water shortage actually
mean? It does not necessarily mean that
there is no water, just that it is not accessible. There may be fresh water near, but
if it is not sanitary or is heavily polluted,
then it is undrinkable. Countries such as
the Sudan and Venezuela face the problem that a good amount of their water is
not sanitary for human consumption. But
at the end of the day, people have to drink
water.
There have been efforts to “desalinate”
salt water, which is basically taking sea
water and through a complicated process
making it drinkable. The issue with that
is the process creates so much waste that

D A I L Y

MISSISSIPPIAN

The Daily Mississippian is published daily Monday
through Friday during the academic year.

Contents do not represent the official opinions of the
university or The Daily Mississippian unless specifically
indicated.

Main Number: 662.915.5503
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

creative assistant

Letters are welcome, but may be edited for clarity,
space or libel.
ISSN 1077-8667

it is not sustainable. We have to keep relying on our current supply of drinkable
water for now.
Another issue that compounds the
problem is that in the coming decades,
the majority of population growth is expected to be in places that already experience water shortage. As demand increases, tensions will also rise over the finite
amount of fresh water.
Although this issue may not be a high
priority in your mind, it needs to be. If
we started investing international water
reclamation programs and keeping in
mind to limit our overall water consumption (ask yourself how long your showers
are), then we might be able to head off a
very serious problem.
Water is necessary for life and people
will fight for it. We won’t be able to solve
it by the end of this decade, but we can
start to talk about it before then. Instead
of being reactive, we would try to be proactive in this. And always be thankful for
showers, sprinklers and glasses of ice water, some people do not have that luxury.

The Daily Mississippian welcomes all comments.
Please send a letter to the editor addressed to The Daily
Mississippian, 201 Bishop Hall, University, MS, 38677
or send an e-mail to dmeditor@gmail.com.
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and no longer
than 300 words. Third party letters and those bearing
pseudonyms, pen names or “name withheld” will not be
published. Publication is limited to one letter per individual per calendar month.
Student submissions must include grade classification
and major. All submissions must be turned in at least
three days in advance of date of desired publication.

Is it just me, or is everyone and her
sister getting engaged or married?
It seems like every time I get on Facebook or talk to one of my friends,
they are telling me someone I know is
engaged.
It seems crazy to me that people who
are my age (21) or a year or two older
already want to settle down and get married.
What is the rush? What happened to
plans of traveling the world after graduation, or going to graduate school?
When I came to college, I knew I wanted to get a degree, make new friends and
have the time of my life. We only have
four years (or five, depending on whom

you talk to) of college, and yet people are
getting engaged and even married before
they get a diploma.
Growing up, I never thought of getting married at such a young age. But all
around me, people who are 21, 22 and
23 are getting married. Are people losing
sight of their old ambitions and dreams
for the sake of getting married because
everyone else is?
I think that for a lot of college women,
there is a pressure to get married younger that men don’t see as frequently. This
pressure comes at us from every direction, especially from friends even when
they do not feel like they are pressuring.
When someone asks you twenty times,
“When are you and so and so getting
married?” you feel the pressure, even if
they are just curious.

In the last year, I have known 10
friends to get married or engaged. I am
very happy for them, but at the same
time I just do not understand what all
of the excitement is about. If you love
someone enough to marry them right
now, shouldn’t you love them enough to
wait and get your life together?
I also feel the pressure from family
members. My mom tells me all the time
how she wants at least one grandchild
each from my sister and me. I know my
mom just wants us to find the man of
our dreams and settle down but when
you tell 21-year-old and 19-year-old
girls you want them to have children, it
is scary.
Other members of my family keep
asking my mom when I am going to get
married, and they ask me any time I go

back home. With people constantly asking me when I am getting married, it
gets a frustrating, and I begin to think
about marriage more than any 21-yearold college student should.
I feel like once you have been dating
someone for a year and a half or two,
everyone starts to think you should get
married soon. Why is that? When did it
become the norm to get married right
out of college?
I think this may just be a Southern
thing, but since coming to Ole Miss I
have felt more pressure to get engaged or
married. I think that marriage is a wonderful thing, but I do not think most
people right out of college really know
who we are enough to want to share a
life with someone else who doesn’t really
know who they are either.

UWIRE

PALIN, THE REPUBLICANS’ LAST AIRBENDER
BY JAMES COOPER
The Daily OCollegian,
Oklahoma State U.
via UWIRE

film critics.
Yet, writing for the New York Observer, noted U.S.
film critic Andrew Sarris wrote, “With ‘Unbreakable,’
Mr. Shyamalan establishes himself as a distinctive auteur with a very personal style.”
What Shyamalan ushered in was the return of the
auteur, the director as author and more than worthy
of our praise and discussion.
What Shyamalan gave us after his next film, the
decently scary “Signs,” was a bunch of nonsense in
the form of “The Village” (a cheat from frame one
despite its beautiful cinematography), “Lady in the
Water” (Shyamalan’s masturbatory exercise in narcissism and egoism), “The Happening” (where even actress Zooey Deschanel seems unsure what she’s doing
in the film) and now, “The Last Airbender,” a film
the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern described
as “a form of Chinese water torture in which tin-ear
line-readings take the place of drips.”
The question is not whether “The Last Airbender”
is the end of an auteur’s greatness.
No, the joke is already on us. For nearly ten years,
we’ve bought into the M. Night brand, sold to us as
one thing, an exciting young filmmaker with something new to say, and experienced as another, a terrible writer and a mediocre director at best.
Ten years later, we don’t seem to have gotten the
joke but it appears we’ll keep returning to the Shyamalan well—a bizarre act of brand loyalty.
This brings us, finally, to Sarah Palin, President

Obama and the 2010/2012 elections.
Tuesday morning, a new Washington Post-ABC
poll found that, while Obama enjoys a 50 percent
approval rating, nearly 58 percent of those polled had
“just some” or “no” confidence in his presidency.
This troubling news for Obama comes the week
after Palin (via her political action committee, Sarahpac) unleashed a glossy, campaign-style video demonstrating her strength in rallying what she calls conservative “Mama Grizzlies” and “Pink Elephants” to
take back the country this November.
As per usual, the video was devoid of substance and
specific policy points but, then again, whoever needed substance or quality to sell something.
Several political commentators have suggested this
video is the beginning of something much larger,
pointing to Palin’s own 2012 presidential aspirations.
Maybe, but, the same poll saw that while voters have
less confidence in Democrats (68 percent), they have
even less confidence in Republicans (72 percent).
A Palin presidential candidacy and Republicans
recapturing the House this Novemeber, depends on
Republicans’ ability to convince independents and
even enough Democrats that their brand is worth the
investment.
Obama and the Democrats would do well to remind
us just how much voters enjoyed the last Republican
show. If not, the joke’s again on us, proving just how
much brand loyalty trumps “buyer beware.”

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“The Last Airbender” (noun): Director M. Night
Shyamalan’s latest film, an adaptation of popular
children’s program on Nickelodeon.
Two weeks ago, “The Last Airbender” defied expectations and film critics as it scored an impressive $51
million by the end of its opening weekend.
Critics responded so negatively to Shyamalan’s film
that “The Last Airbender” enjoys only a seven percent “fresh” from the nation’s top critics on rottentomatoes.com, the site that compiles the ratings and
reviews of critics from across the country.
How then did Shyamalan’s film sail away with its
notable bounty?
Arguably, the answer is simpler than we’d like it
to be but the tale of “The Last Airbender” offers a
cautionary note for cultural observers and political
commentators.
Nearly ten years ago, many American filmgoers
found themselves enamored with the man of the hour,
the man who had just written and directed the sleeper
blockbuster hit of the summer, the film that would
resurrect Bruce Willis’ career: the haunting suspense
thriller, “The Sixth Sense.”
The name M. Night Shyamalan became a genre,
a moment where Hollywood promised audiences the
return of suspense done right, the way Alfred Hitchcock might have done it.
And then the next movie, “Unbreakable,” came and
went. Audiences didn’t quite groove to Shyamalan’s
sophomore effort despite a lukewarm response from

ing to help on other fronts,
too, chief executive Ana Zorrilla said.
Earlier this month, it arranged the first of several emergency transports, moving 17
dogs to Maryland, Virginia and
Tennessee. Among them were a
purebred Maltese, Yorkies and
Labs, all what Brewster calls
“highly adoptable” dogs.
More transports will be
worked out in the coming
weeks, possibly to willing shelters in Texas and Florida, Zorrilla said.
The SPCA is also launching
an outreach program that will
offer free spaying, neutering
and vaccinations in the hard-

may not be able to afford either food or routine veterinary
care.
A grant from the American
Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals will fund
free veterinary care in Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Terrebonne
and Jefferson parishes. The
care includes testing for feline
leukemia and heartworm, vaccinations, microchipping and
registration, and spaying and
neutering.
Appointments will be offered
through November to anyone
who works in the fishing industry.
Zorrilla said the combined

efforts could help keep as many
as 1,000 pets in their homes.
The SPCA, backed by PetCo
Foundation, Del Monte and
others, is trying to help on
other fronts, too, chief executive Ana Zorrilla said.
Earlier this month, it arranged the first of several emergency transports, moving 17
dogs to Maryland, Virginia and
Tennessee. Among them were a
purebred Maltese, Yorkies and
Labs, all what Brewster calls
“highly adoptable” dogs.
More transports will be
worked out in the coming
weeks, possibly to willing shelters in Texas and Florida, Zorrilla said.

A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S

Miss. man charged with post-Katrina hate crime
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A
Mississippi man was charged
Thursday with firing a shotgun at three black men in New
Orleans who were wounded in
what prosecutors said was a racially motivated attack in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath.
Roland Bourgeois Jr., a
47-year-old white man, is
charged in a five-count indictment with firing a shotgun at
the men in the city’s historic
Algiers Point neighborhood on
the south side of the Mississippi
River while they tried to leave
the center of the city after the
August 2005 hurricane.
Bourgeois and others discussed shooting black people
and defending the neighborhood from “outsiders” after the
storm, the indictment says. He
allegedly bragged that he “got”
one after the shooting, then retrieved a bloody baseball cap belonging to one of the victims.
“When (he) was advised that
the man he had shot was still
alive, Bourgeois referred to the

injured man using a racial epithet and threatened he would
kill him,” the indictment says.
Bourgeois also warned a black
resident of Algiers Point that
“anything coming up this street
darker than a brown paper bag
is getting shot.”
Bourgeois, now a resident of
Columbia, Miss., faces a possible life sentence if convicted
of charges that include committing a hate crime with a deadly
weapon with intent to kill. A
spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney
Jim Letten said she didn’t know
if Bourgeois has an attorney.
The case against Bourgeois is
one of several post-Katrina investigations opened by the Justice Department’s civil rights
division. On Tuesday, six current and former New Orleans
police officers were indicted on
federal civil rights charges stemming from deadly shootings on
a bridge.
Police shot and killed two
people and wounded four others on the Danziger Bridge on

Sept. 4, 2005. Five former officers already have pleaded guilty
to participating in a cover-up
to make it appear the shootings
were justified.
Thursday’s indictment only
refers to Bourgeois’ alleged
victims by their initials, but a
January 2009 article by ProPublica and The Nation magazine identifies them as Donnell Herrington, then 32; his
cousin, Marcel Alexander, then
17; and a friend, Chris Collins,
then 18.
Herrington, who was shot in
the throat but survived, told
The Nation that he didn’t know
the three heavily armed white
men who shot at him.
“I just hit the ground. I didn’t
even know what happened,” he
recalled.
Bourgeois is the only person
charged in the case. A date for
his initial court appearance
wasn’t immediately set and he
is not in custody. There was no
listing for Bourgeois in Columbia.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SOME HAVE TROUBLE BELIEVING BP STOPPED
OIL LEAK
NEW ORLEANS (AP) —
Many Gulf Coast residents don’t
believe it. Some accuse BP of
making it up. And even those convinced that the oil leak has finally
been stopped are tempered in
their relief, aware that their environmental nightmare is far from
over.
“It’s a beautiful thing that it’s
shut off,” trumpeter Shamarr Allen said as he stood on the sidewalk in the Musicians’ Village in
New Orleans’ Upper Ninth Ward.
“But there’s still a lot of years of
cleaning. There’s going to be a lot
of no fishing still. It’s only the beginning of a long road that we have
to travel. It’s only the first step.”
Reaction to the news that BP

PLC had cut off the ﬂow from
the blown well 87 days after an
oil-rig explosion was marked with
deep distrust of the oil giant. Gulf
Coast residents have suffered from
months of false starts and dashed
hopes, failed “top kills” and abortive “junk shots,” containment
domes and “top hats,” as they
watched the biggest offshore oil
spill in U.S. history foul their
shores and eat into their livelihoods.
“It’s a (expletive) lie,” shouted
Stephon LaFrance, one of several
oil-stained oystermen standing
around Delta Marina in marshy
Plaquemines Parish. “I don’t believe they stopped that leak. BP’s
trying to make their self look

good.”
Sitting on a boat, his cousin,
Louie Randy Barthelemy, looked
up and said: “BP’s trying to manipulate the media.”
“It doesn’t mean anything,”
Craig St. Amant said as he tried
to sell tours to passersby on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.
“They tell you what they want you
to hear. I don’t think they’re being
truthful in saying what they’re saying.”
Even those who believed what
they were seeing on the live video
feeds from the school of submersibles surrounding the damaged
well head were having a hard time
getting excited about this milestone.

LIFESTYLES
L IF ES T Y L ES |

7 . 16 . 2 010

| T H E DA ILY M I S S I S S IP P I A N | PAG E 5

BEAT THE

HEAT

BY LANCE INGRAM
Lifestyles Editor

PHOTO COURTESY Stock Exchange

W

ith the onset of summer comes many
things, like no school, vacations and
extreme heat. From 1979 to 2003 extreme heat has been responsible for 8,015 heat
related deaths in the United States alone according to the Center for Disease Control. It is imperative that when being outside during those
hot summer days that you take extra precautions
to avoid causing permanent damage to the body
or even death.
But it’s a shame to waste away those precious
summer days that entail little or no responsibility
because of heat. Here are a few ideas to help you
enjoy your summer and help you avoid health
hazards.

Bodies
of Water
You can only really enjoy a pool or beach during the summer months anyway, so live them up. But just because

you’re outdoors doesn’t mean you can’t take extra precautions, such as sitting under an umbrella or tree. Instead of
spending entire days at the pool it also may be a good idea to visit the pool for shorter periods but more frequently
during the week. Just because it’s a cloudy day out doesn’t mean the pool is any less enjoyable. Granted, you can’t soak
up those summer rays that are so sought after but you can still take a dip, clouds or not.

Volunteer
Volunteering is something everyone should take the time out to do at least once in their life. It’s a very rewarding
experience to know that you are helping someone in a time of need. Most volunteer jobs are indoors, which means
lots of air conditioning to help you beat the heat. If you’re unsure of where to go to volunteer, get online and do a little
research. Oxford has multiple outlets that are always in need of young college students to lend a helping hand.

Indoor
athletics
Most communities have some form of indoor recreational facility and on the Ole Miss campus we have the Turner

Center. There people can enjoy activities that would otherwise be performed outside such as, basketball, jogging and
even swimming. It’s the best of both worlds: exercise and air conditioning.

Abide
heat rules
It is essential during summer months to abide by heat rules. It cannot be stressed enough that sun-

Read
a book
No, we’re not all taking summer classes at the moment but reading a book is a great way to avoid

the heat. Get cozy in your favorite chair and crack open the latest novel of your genre choice. Reading provides a chance to explore the mind and yes, even learn something because you don’t always
have to be in school to learn. If a book doesn’t do it for you, pick up a magazine. Magazine’s are more
geared towards individual interests and can hook you up with the latest on whatever celebrity scandal
is slutting it up.

Late
night
Save the energy for the night. After the sun has set for the day, it’s perfect to get outside and not have
to worry about suffering the sun’s extreme heat. Most parks have lights so you can still play a game
of Frisbee, soccer or whatever game gets you your kicks. Late-night activities work during summer
because most people have no responsibility to wake up to in the morning (being attentive in class is
not as important as enjoying your summer). Besides, summer is the best time to stay out all night and
sleep all day, what better do you have to do?

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C L A S S IF I E D S |

7 . 16 . 2 010

| T H E DA ILY M I S S I S S IP P I A N | PAG E 6

CLASSIFIEDS
INFORMATION
To place your ad in The
Daily Mississippian
Classifieds section, visit:
http://www.thedmonline.com/
classifieds.
The DEADLINE to place, correct or
cancel an ad is 12 p.m. one day
in advance. The Daily Mississippian is published Monday through
Friday year round, when school is
in session.

Full-time
Full Time Merchant Services
Representative needed. Payliance in
Oxford, MS is seeking professional with
strong customer service and communications skills. Candidate should be able
to work in a fast paced environment.
Computer skills including Excel a must.
Please bring resume and apply in person on Mon., Tues, or Thurs at 2612
Jackson Avenue West, Oxford, MS.

Middleweight prospect Fernando Guerrero (18-0, 15 KOs)
will fight Ishe Smith (21-4, 9
KOs) tonight in the main event
of an eight-bout boxing card at
Desoto Civic Center in Southaven. The hard-hitting, exciting 23-year-old from Salisbury,
Md., has built a fan base in
north Mississippi after fighting
eight times at the Fitzgerald’s
Casino in Tunica. Guerrero vs.
Smith and two 10-round undercard bouts will be televised live
on Showtime at 10 p.m.
How do you feel about returning to Mississippi to
fight?
It makes me feel like Mississippi is my hometown. Actually
that’s where I had my first fight
and even though Salisbury has
been my hometown and all the
Salisburians are there for me.
Mississippi is just like it.
It’s just crazy because at least
people in Salisbury have a reason
to go to my fight because they
know me and they’re my friends
and all that stuff. But it’s even
more amazing for people that
didn’t even know me and stuff
like that and then they’re just
going over there (to the Fitzgerald Casino in Tunica).
They’re always having a full
house over there, and hopefully
those same people and more will
come to see me.
What can fans expect from
your fight with Ishe Smith?
I think of myself as a boxerbanger. Whatever happens, Fernando is always going to get
the job done. The louder they
scream, the more people there
is, the more action they’re going to see. I think it’s going to
be a great performance, actionpacked.

Have you watched much
tape of Smith?
I haven’t watched a lot of tape
of Ishe Smith. I just noticed
something with all my fights
and all my confidence building
and stuff like that. I mean it
does help. I’m not going to say
I don’t even know who he is because that wouldn’t be true.
When I step in the ring, I’m a
different fighter. He’s a different
fighter, too. I think with my amateur background (140 fights),
I wouldn’t have any problem
figuring him out and stuff like
that. He’s a good fighter so I just
have to go in there and execute,
not worry about what he can do,
just worry about what I can do.
How do you think you’ll
match up with him?
I think I’ll matchup good.
The thing is, I think it’s just a
builder for me to become even
a better champion. I’ve fought
guys that come straight forward
and they notice that’s a mistake
because that’s not the way to
fight Fernando Guerrero. And I
also fight guys that try to outbox
you.
I showed that I could box
with (decision wins over) Ossie
Duran and Gabriel Rosado.
With (Smith), it’s just more of
preparation for me, becoming
a champion and putting all my
styles together. I don’t think I
only have one arsenal. I don’t
think that I’m just a banger. I
think that I’m a boxer as well.
To me, he seems like a guy
that wouldn’t mind just going 10 rounds. I’m not content
with that. I’m only going to be
content with a win but I want
to give a good outing. I want to
give a good show. People don’t
come just to see an event. They
come to see a performance. I
think a great performance, even

if it’s not with a knockout, it’s an
attempt of a knockout.
When and why did you start
boxing?
I started boxing at age 14.
It was the fact, and this (goes
for) all the kids and everyone
else that don’t know what they
want to do and stuff like that
or they’re trying to find themselves, it was just me trying to
find myself. I was the guy that
in school I had straight A’s and
I never even thought about oneone-one sports like that.
I tried soccer, basketball, volleyball I tried everything and I
wasn’t the best. I was always like
the second (best). Like, if I was
to race, I was always the second
fastest. And I just hated losing
but then in boxing, I didn’t like
it all. Nobody likes to say that
they like to get hit, that’d be
crazy.
But I kept doing it because
I’m like ‘man I kind of quit
everything. I’ve got to push
something.’ And me being the
crazy person that I am, I kind of
picked the hardest sport to stick
with it. It takes hard work.
I was trying to find the easy
way out and I know in my times
I really learned that you have to
work hard if you want to be a
champion – in anything, even in
school or whatever, everything is
hard.
Many pro boxers have come
from poverty. Do you think
growing up poor in the Dominican Republic played a
role in your determination?
I never knew that I was poor
until I came to America. I

please drink responsibly

BY DAVID HOPPER

thought that everybody was
poor. We had no shoes. We had
to get our own water. We had
to grow our fruits, our food, everything. We would walk miles,
We’d carry a bucket of water on
our head.
So when people see me training, when I run 9, 10 miles,
they’re like ‘Man, you’re running
too much.’ I’m like, no man, it’s
a privilege for me because I used
to do it for me living. Now I’m
doing it for my job. For me it’s
nothing.
I think that there’s no limit to
anything right now because we
used to be in the worst position.
I’d do anything just to represent
my country and represent every
people that felt what I felt because it’s not good.
I understand Hal Chernoff
is more than your co-trainer
and manager. What does he
mean to you?
I live with the guy. What can
I say? He’s like another father to
me, and his wife Nancy. They’re
like parents. The thing about it
is, I’ve never met anyone so honest and hardheaded. Hal and I
are a lot alike. He’s truly a good
man. I try to be just like him as
much as he tries to be like me.
We’ve been through so much,
just him and I. Sometimes it
was just me and him against the
world and we overcame. There’s
nothing he hasn’t told me that
hasn’t happened. I remember
when I was young he told me
“You’re gonna be a champion,’
but he didn’t just mean a champion in the ring. He meant a
champion in everything.

There was one time he told
me that he didn’t care about
boxing. If we don’t do this we’ll
do something else. And I’m like,
‘we?’ But I thought it was just I
and he was like, ‘nah it’s not just
boxing, we’re in it together.’
I was getting good grades in
school and then he was like no
you can do better. I was getting
3.0s and stuff like that and for
me that was great, and he was
like, ‘no you can do better.’ And
then at the end of the year I got
a 4.0. He really pushed me, not
just in my boxing career.
He told me he wanted to make
me into a man and teach me
stuff - not just about boxing.
He’ll say if you really want to be
a better person and an honest
person you have to clean your
room. An organized person, not
just in boxing, is an organized
person in life.
What would you attribute
your success in the pro ranks
to?
I never had natural talent. I
never had that luck. Everything
that I have is from hard, hard
training, hard, hard work, and
I’m still learning.
The thing is I’ve always wondered how, it’s not fair. You see a
guy that works hard like me and
then you see another guy that
doesn’t do anything at all and
he still can perform as good or
even better than me. But then
see that it all evens out because
God gives you gifts and I think
he gave me the ability to work
hard and not mind.
The DM’s David Hopper was
also able to catch up to Showtime
boxing analyst Steve Farhood,
and the interview can be read at
TheDMonline.com.